


How To Play The Game

by eclipsedheart



Category: Borgen (TV)
Genre: Advice, Elections, Gen, Girl Power, Heavy Drinking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-17
Updated: 2019-05-17
Packaged: 2020-03-07 00:28:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 758
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18862042
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eclipsedheart/pseuds/eclipsedheart
Summary: Birgitte is celebrating her victory on election night. Hanne has a piece of advice to share.





	How To Play The Game

**Author's Note:**

> I'm extremely new to this show, so please forgive any and all mistakes. Also not a native English speaker... nor a native Danish speaker, which is why this is in English.
> 
> Used to be involved with politics on a hobby level in the past (about half a step to the left of Birgitte), and would vote for her SO HARD if she were real! :D 
> 
> This is taking place on election night, in the time frame between Philip and the kids leaving and Birgitte going home, and it assumes that Hanne either still works for TV1, or that Birgitte doesn't know she's left her employment… and that Laugesen has already been kicked out as Labour leader.  
> 

 

* * *

 

 

 

_Borgen, election night, a bathroom at Christansborg:_

The door to the third booth opens and a bleached-blonde woman, possibly ten years older than Birgitte, possibly just three and alcohol, steps out. It’s one of TV1’s star reporters and political pundits, Hanne. She has helped herself to more than one drink tonight, that’s for sure. But so has Birgitte.

“You know, Nyborg, I liked you from the start. A bit too politically correct, I thought, but fuck, you’re not _actually_ being politically correct, are you? You honestly _have_ those equality views.”

Birgitte is quiet. She’s taken questions from Hanne on more than one occasion and she knows the other woman is sharp as a razor, even when she seems like her head is in the clouds. Hanne wobbles a little and Birgitte automatically reaches out a hand to steady her.

“Are you alright, Hanne?”

“I think you really do,” Hanne continues as if she hasn’t heard Birgitte. Which honestly is very possible; she has cheered and shouted so much tonight that her voice is a mere whisper at this point. “And you have a kind heart, and somehow managed to keep it even in this harsh, depressingly masculine reality. But you have to watch your back really carefully now.” She holds a finger up and waves it in front of Birgitte’s face. “You may think the whole world is smiling…” she swallows a hiccup, “at you, and I admit it sort of is, but you won this victory at the cost of somebody else’s defeat, and if you’re a smart chick, you keep an eye on those who lost to you. A piece of good advice from someone who’s seen the rise and fall of many political starlets. You have no friends in politics.”

“I know that,” Birgitte replies calmly. “It’s not my first election.”

Hanne squints at her behind her glasses.

“Yeah, brush me off because I’m drunk, good on you, sweetheart. Here’s the thing you should be wary of; Laugesen may have been kicked off Labour, but he officially becomes the editor-in-chief of the Ekspres within the week. _And he hates you_ ,” she finishes, breathing hot vodka vapor into Birgitte’s face.

She doesn’t believe Hanne is lying; Hanne is a skilled, experienced reporter who has backchannels and informers everywhere. Truth is, if Hanne really wanted to, she probably has enough secret knowledge to destabilise the whole of Denmark, if not the entire EU. And despite her infamous alcoholism, she doesn’t leak anything that isn’t good press ethics to leak. Which begs the question.

“Why are you telling me this?”

Hanne straightens up.

“I already told you. I liked you from the start. Fuck, I even voted for you. I’ve never voted to the right of Solidarity my whole life. Now, I’m a journalist, you’re a politician, I’m going to make life miserable for you, make no mistake, but trust me when I say I _want_ you to succeed.” She takes out a pocket flask from her purse and unscrews the cork, and Birgitte reaches out and takes it from her, pours the content into the sink, and hands it back.

“Thank you, Hanne. I appreciate that. Please trust me when I say; likewise.”

Hanne looks furious for a moment, then she nods with a hint of a bitter I’ve-seen-it-all-at-least-twice smile.

“Guess it’s time for this Cinderella to make a run for the chariot before it turns into a pumpkin, huh.”

“I think you’ll be more comfortable riding in a cab,” Birgitte says. “I assume you know how to get out from Christiansborg without being seen.”

“Yeah.” The other woman splashes some water on her face. “You’re good at this, Nyborg. The game, I mean.”

Birgitte shakes her head.

“I’m not playing any games.”

“Oh yes you do, dear girl. And you’d better play it well. There are some _very_ powerful players out there that want nothing but to tear you apart.”

She wipes her face, then her hands, and offers Birgitte a drunkenly dignified bow.

“Now, I shall make my grand escape. Good night, Prom Queen.”

“Good night, Hanne. Get home safe.”

Birgitte sighs and leans over the sink, staring into the eyes of her own reflection. Did she really think it would be a smooth ride from here?

_But it wasn’t_ my _fault Laugesen lost_ , that inner voice says. _It’s not fair!_

That’s exactly the mindset she needs to overcome. It doesn’t matter if it’s unfair. What matters is reality; the actual situation at hand. And how to deal with it.

How to play the game.


End file.
